"How about making some noise for opening the beach?" Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said from the podium, as brightly dressed protesters standing behind a police line chanted, "Thor no more! Thor no more!"

So began another politically charged season at Coney Island under appropriately gloomy skies on Thursday morning.  read more »

Coney Island merchants sent out a terse press release Friday afternoon in response to "an ominous fence which is obstructing the entrances to an entire block of businesses on the boardwalk."

The Parks Department, which erected the fence a day earlier, issued the following explanation via email to The Observer:

The Parks Department is currently doing maintenance work along the boardwalk including the area between West 12th Street and Stillwell Avenue to reinforce its support structures and repair decking material. The affected areas will be repaired or replaced, and fencing will be removed, prior to the start of the busy beach season. While we regret any inconvenience this may present to adjacent business owners, safer structures will be a benefit in the long run and, in the meantime, we are preserving access wherever possible.

Seaside merchants have long complained about the sorry state of Coney Island's rickety boardwalk.

And some say the city's latest attempt to address the situation isn't really helping:

"Instead of fixing the boardwalk in front of the businesses that go from Stillwell [Avenue] to 12th Street, the Parks Department decided to build this enormous barricade in front of all our stores," said Dianna Carlin, owner of the Lola Starr Souvenir Boutique. "So now all of our businesses are completely blocked in by this wall, which they say will be there all summer."

Today, Mayor Bloomberg and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe broke ground on the second phase of the Harlem River Park Greenway and Esplanade.

Once completed in August of next year, the project will extend the greenway and esplanade from 139th Street to 142nd Street along the Harlem River, according to a press release. The initial phase of the project was completed in 2003, and opened up the greenway and esplanade from 135th Street to 139th Street.

The second phase will cost $8.7 million, according to the release

More information after the jump.  read more »

Mayor Bloomberg announced today that Brooklyn’s Dreier-Offerman Park is getting a complete makeover. The park, which sits just next to Coney Island, is one of eight parks in the five boroughs that is being redesigned and refurbished under PlaNYC.

There are a slew of improvements that will come with the $40 million project. They include:

• Three new baseball fields

• Six new soccer fields

• Kayak launches

• New picnic areas

• A central lawn

• A bicycle path

• New nature trails

• An amphitheater,

• A new playground

• A recreation center

• A new pavilion

According to a press release, the project will be completed in 2011.

Full release after the jump.  read more »